I did not like it as a whole. It had some woderful parts. But the first hour and a half droned me. There was no pacing or mood. I did not feel like I was in a real place, before the big battle everything seemed to be on an etheral plane. It was worth the 7 bucks to see Yoda, but I want waste 2 hours of my life to see 1 minute and a half of cool. Emotionless, poor acting. It is George's creation that he can do with what he likes, but personally I did not enjoy it. It left a bad taste in my mouth.

All this is my opinion, I am not trying to start a flame war. George is a movie making icon, and I know I could not do better.

The battle-droid blasters in Phantom Menace and this one... I've seen it before.
Everybody knows that the original Stormtrooper blaster was a Sterling SMG.
But this one, I saw something like it in a book about modern military weapons. It's some Czech thing or something! At first I thought it was only some prop George Lucas made in his basement.

Someone mentioned earlier that Qui-Gon is not in the film but is in the novel. I just thought I would mention that while he does not visually appear in the film, his voice is. When Anakin turns to the dark side for the tusken raiders and yoda is sitting there grimacing at the pain anakin is going through you can hear Qui-Gon yell, "Anakin! NO!"

I just got back from seeing it a third time the movie is like a really good amusement park ride that people like to ride over & over again.
Every time I see it I notice something different.
Did anyone else notice the Falcon parked at the spaceport on Naboo? It's on the left side of the screen. Anyway, I already have plans to see it again tomorrow.
Can't wait for Episode III

Shawn, that was me, and I completely didn't notice that. I heard the shout when Yoda was meditating, but for some reason, it just didn't sound like Qui-Gon to my ears. ::shrug:: I just assumed it might have been a partial future vision since everyone has seen the trailer where Obi-Wan yells, "No Anakin, no!" But thanks for pointing that out. I have to listen more closely next time I see it.
Also, the main reason I was peeved about taking him out was that even Yoda was amazed to hear Qui-Gon from the great beyond. Giving the impression that the Jedi Council had no prior knowledge of being able to live beyond your physical death.

I really liked AOTC. I'd have to place it ahead of ESB as my favorite because of the rich visuals, and I don't mean simply great effects. The two prequels provide a clearer vision of this galaxy far far away. ESB had the best pacing of all the movies but I always knew I was watching a movie with built sets. In TPM and AOTC I feel like I am actually in the world instead of watching from the outside. Were ESB to be made for the first time now it would likely be my favorite again.

The acting was much better than I had expected. I spent much of the movie waiting to hear truly jarring dialog but it was never spoken. Even the corny lines seemed to play out quite naturally. Yes, the love story was definitely rushed but that was due to cutting the movie to a manageable length. I think had Lucas spent the entire movie developing there relationship it would have come off more believable, but then we'd not have all the great action sequences.

There were very few effects scenes that had glaring visual problems, times when your eyes knew something wasn't just right. Case in point, Anakin riding the creature on Naboo. But given the vast number of effects shot in the movie a few instances that are less than ideal is forgivable in my opinion.

Seeing Zam's face change for a second when she turned her head to look at Anakin was great. My fiancee afterward had to ask me if she did see what she thought see saw there. Very nice touch!

Yoda's brief battle with Dooku was great. What intrigued me the most was that he moved fluidly when it mattered most but once the fight ended he went back to his usual slow gait. Awesome. The force flows through him infusing him with strength and power unbecoming his age.

That's about all for now. I'll definitely see it again soon. Too bad there are no digital projectors anywhere in Virginia.

I'm home from work and dinner is done. Now I'll give a few more thoughts I have on AOTC.

Dooku was a great villain. Too bad the story didn't show more of his involvement. I'd love to see backstory on how he came to meet Sidious and become his new apprentice. I too was confused at first by Dooku's surprise at the Republic's army. But I quickly reasoned that he is playing everyone for fools. The only two that know exactly what is going on is Sidious (Palpatine) and Tyrannus (Dooku). Even the audience must wait until Episode III before all the mysteries in the storyline will come to light. My guess is that sooner or later Sidious will turn on Dooku, either seeing him as an adversary for total power or choosing Anakin as a replacement apprentice pitting the two against one another.

Seeing the origin of the Death Star was a greatly unexpected development. It fits perfectly with all future events and just helps to tie the movies together. The only problem is it wipes out developments in the Expanded Universe novels, but that is fine with me.

I am likely in the minority because I actually liked Jar Jar, both here and in TPM. Yes, he is a bumbling idiot but I find it hard to imagine that such a creature would NOT exist in the universe. In AOTC he is used as the ultimate pawn by Palpatine, the latter relying on Jar Jar's gullibility to gain complete control of the Republic military. Ingenious!

So besides describing what you thought of the movie, what did people think of various plotpoints or mysteries yet to be answered?

I would post my opionion here now, but it's been suggested that the film requires at least two viewings before it can be fully digested. I will go see it at a DLP theater and then make my judgement afterwards. But to be honest, on a scale of 1 to 10, I'd give it about a 3. Folks, it was awful.

i have just a general question, i just saw it recenlty and it rocked, but when obi wan is in the library (jedi library that is) and he is looking at that statue is that supposed to be qui gon jinn? i thought yoda's dialouge was horrible personally , some of it was really bad i thought they really overused him saying stuff backwards, it was just to much for me, but he looked pretty good.

I saw it today! We went two hours early for the 1:30 showing but it turned out there was no line. So we changed our tickets for the 12:00 and got in, it was pretty sweet. The theater wasn't full neither. Now if I can only see it tommorrow. I loved the cloth of the tall people. I wanted more of the actual battle, I had a grin of EAR TO EAR when yoda was fighting.

I thought it was really good (of course to tell you the truth I wasn't expecting much because of TPM). I just wanted to name my pointless but interesting and funny tidbits from AOTC (and take in mind I saw it the first time half an hour ago so I might not have caught everything:

1.) After the scrolling text at the beginning the camera pans up instead of down

2.) The jedi that got shot by Jango Fett had his lightsaber drawn and he was ready, but I guess he didn't use the force and he got shot (just thought that was pretty funny)

3.) They had droid control ships as in TPM even though their first ones were blown up by a nine year old boy in E1

Well just a few things I picked up, I liked it, was 10x better than E1.

Think about this, folks ... here's a list of what has to get wrapped up in EP III ...

1. Anakin has to go completely over to the dark side.
2. Padme gets pregnant - Anakin doesn't know.
3. Anakin hunts down all the Jedi (save Obi Wan and Yoda) and murders them.
4. Which means, Mace Windu dies.
5. DooKoo dies
6. Chancellor Palpatine declares himself Emperor ... the Empire is born
7. Padme eventually must leave Anakin, setting up w/ Bail Organa (I think, after all, Leia refers to her father and her name is Organa)
8. Leia and Luke are born, separated and sent to both Tattoine and Alderaan
9. The Trade Federation is defeated permanently
10. The Death Star gets built
11. Han Solo saves Chewbacca - will this actually be explored?
12. The Rebellion is born

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but personally, I don't see AT ALL how people can dislike it. On a scale of 1-10 I would give it a 13. I was smiling the whole way through. I just don't see how people can give it such low reviews. I'm not saying you (the people who disliked the movie) are wrong, I just want more reasons why. It was WAY more than I expected and it hurts me to see fellow Star Wars fans say how much they disliked it. I'm sorry if I offended anyone, but I too feel that I am entitled to my own opinion.

Just saw it tonight. All in all I thought it was a good movie, lots of action. I actually went into it thinking that a CG yoda might not look all that great, but I see why it was necesary. And in reality, he looked okay in most shots.

Anybody else like the holographic planetarium? Wow, what I wouldn't give to have one of those.

Also, I have to admit I didn't like the looks of the jedi starfighter until I saw it in the movie, then for me it just seemed to fit. Plus the detachable hyperdrive/booster was an interesting idea, I liked that.

Weapons wise, those sonic mines/bombs (I forgot the name) were really cool, the sound that went with them was perfect.

All in all, it was well worth seeing, people can nitpick alot about this and that, but in a whole I enjoyed it, and that's what reallys matters I suppose.

From an effects perspective, I think they over used CGI. Some of the shots they just didn't have enough time to make the CGI convincing. This is ILM, and I know they could do LOTS better, they just didn't have the time to finish all the shots to their full potential.

From an overall perspective, I'm ticked that they left this scene out...

Actually, Dooku was going to fight Annakin with two saber's, instead of cutting his saber in two, he force pulls it to him, and they fight. It would have been then that Anakins arms is lopped off, Dooku catches him in a scisor type move with both sabers.

Whoa, Macho, you haven't seen Spiderman yet? Dude, it kicks butt. Oh, and my girlfriend and I are about to go see AOTC for he second time in about an hour. Her sister and her fiance are going with us, and it will be their first time to see it. ISN'T SWEET TO HAVE A GIRLFRIEND THAT IS AS BIG AS A STAR WARS FAN AS MYSELF? I think so. She likes Star Trek like I do as well, yipee!